Similarities between Scientic and Dramatic ProseReuben Hudson*

Department of Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2K6, Canada

Department of Chemistry, Colby College, Waterville, Maine 04901, United States

ABSTRACT: Most approaches for teaching the art of scientic writingfocus overwhelmingly on the technical and less on the art itself. Totickle the imagination and creativity of educators hoping to provide amore balanced curriculum, the following discussion illustrates that theelements of dramatic structure are no more relevant to playwrights thanthey are to the authors of scientic manuscripts. One can appreciate thisconnection between scientic and dramatic prose by analyzing amanuscript as one would a play, and vice versa. By stressing theseintrinsic similarities, chemical educators have a chance to foster youngscientists who are as creative in their prose as they are in their research.

KEYWORDS: First-Year Undergraduate/General, Second-Year Undergraduate, Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary,Analogies/Transfer, Communication/Writing

INTRODUCTIONChemical educators have long sought to improve studentstechnical writing skills in class,16 lab,711 culminatingexperiences,12,13 or even across the curriculum.8,14,15 Fewattempts, however, delve beyond the purely technical aspects totreat scientic writing as an art form.16,17 The followingcommentary, therefore, hopes to tickle the imagination andcreative side of chemical educators to promote the art ofscientic writing.If a drama is the playwrights canvas, then the manuscript is

the scientists and these works are woven from the same thread.Freytags elements of dramatic structure18exposition, risingaction, climax, falling action, and denouementintimatelymirror their scientic counterpartsintroduction, materialsand methods, results, discussion, and conclusions (Figure 1).By drawing on this connection, we may yet have a chance tofoster a generation of scientists who cherish technical writing asan art form.

Student-generated reports can easily betray to the readertheir authors misconception that the scientic manuscript isdry, formulaic, and inelegant. If scientic authors believe it,their reports will reect dry, formulaic writing. As scientists, weare constrained to write within certain well-dened boundaries,but so too are playwrights constrained to the format of acts andscenesand who would accuse them of dry, formulaic, orinelegant prose? We have a duty as educators to demonstratethe potential mobility within these boundaries for artisticallydisseminating our research to the greater scientic community.

COMPARING ARCS OF SCIENTIFIC ANDDRAMATIC WRITING

Two general approaches can elucidate the connection betweenscientic and dramatic prose. We can either digest a particularlywell-written scientic manuscript19 as we would a playidentifying the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action,and denouementor ask students to critique and rewrite amanuscript that does not oer these elements in a clearmanner. Alternatively, we can analyze a drama20 as we would ascientic manuscriptidentifying the introduction, materialsand methods, results, discussion, and conclusions. These twoopposed comparisons, likely providing the most impact whenpreformed in tandem, only begin to demonstrate the intrinsicsimilarities (Table 1).

COMPARING PLOT ELEMENTS OF DRAMATIC ANDSCIENTIFIC WRITING

In addition, a more meaningful comparison would be tocritique the merits of various plot elements, be they dramatic or

Published: February 11, 2015

Figure 1. Components of a scientic manuscript presented overFreytags pyramid of dramatic structure.18

Commentary

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2015 American Chemical Society andDivision of Chemical Education, Inc. 781 DOI: 10.1021/ed500091a

J. Chem. Educ. 2015, 92, 781783

scientic, and have the students indicate their use in the otherart form, scientic or dramatic. Consider the rule of Chekhovsgun. Russian playwright Anton Chekhov famously put forwardthat, If in the rst act you have hung a pistol on the wall, thenin the following one it should be red. Otherwise, dont put itthere.21 In the context of a play, this could be interpreted intwo ways. First, do not include extraneous details that maydistract the reader. Second, the author should foreshadowmajor events.These two interpretations go hand in hand with two rules of

thumb for scientic writing. First, do not include irrelevantbackground information, because it will only draw the readeralong the tangential thought process of the meandering author.Second, the scientic author should foreshadow the con-clusions, so that by the time the conclusions are formallypresented, the reader has already formulated them independ-ently, and may then think, These authors are smart, theythink just like me.

LESSONS FROM MISSTEPS IN DRAMATIC ANDSCIENTIFIC WRITING

Contrasting manuscripts that observe literary rules, likeChekhovs gun, with those that break literary faux pas, likedeus ex machina, can further expound the similarities betweenthe scientic and the technicalnot only providing valuabledos but also providing equally valuable donts. Greek tragedianEuripides has been roundly criticized22 for his use of the deus exmachina (the unexpected resolution of a problem by theintroduction of an inextricable character, event, etc.). Thescientic equivalent of a deus ex machina would be drawing aconclusion with little basis in the results obtained, which is apitfall of poor science. The scientic literature is riddled withexamples of the use and reliance on deus ex machina; comparingany one of these examples to the work of Euripides can instillan understanding of the plot elements to avoid in scienticwriting.

CONCLUSIONAs chemical educators, we have an opportunityor rather, adutyto engender students artistic dispositions in scienticprose, after all, the worlds great scientists have often been theworlds great artists and philosophers (Aristotle, Plato, DaVinci). By comparing the technical to the dramatic, we canwork toward maintaining this tradition of art and scienceinuencing each other.

AUTHOR INFORMATIONCorresponding Author

*E-mail: reuben.hudson@mail.mcgill.ca.Notes

The authors declare no competing nancial interest.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSI would like to thank Professors Audrey Moores, C. J. Li, DavidHarpp, Youla Tsantrizos, and Ariel Fenster for their guidance,as well as NSERC, FQRNT, and the Center for GreenChemistry and Catalysis for nancial support.

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